No More Foie in Cali?

Came across this article in the NYTimes yesterday eve': In California, Going All Out to Bid Adieu to Foie Gras

Eight years ago, the Governator signed SB 1520, a statute prohibiting the sale and production of foie gras--and it's set to go into effect this coming July.

This is absurd. Perhaps my opinion is morally relativistic--shark-fin soup and "the collapse of an ecosystem" = bad--I'm sure those you're-either-a-vegan-or-a-perpetrator-of-genocide folks over at PETA would argue that it is.

But for me, the line is clear: annihilation of an entire class of animals (I think that's the correct taxonomic category) versus an infinitely replicable resource.

And then we come to the question of inhumane treatment of animals, to which Marion Nestle, an NYU professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health (and Sociology), responds, "I’ve seen the videos, and everyone says the same thing: they all seem to run up to be fed" (NYTimes). And if that's really the issue, why not simply regulate the industry, rather than banning the product outright?

The kicker is the following comment by John L. Burton, the mostly politically reasonable dude who introduced the bill, expounding on the sold-out, eight-course foie fest held at L.A.'S Animal restaurant: "This is like what they did before Prohibition: Everyone was giving away the booze. Whatever makes them happy."

Really, current Chairman of the California Democratic Party? You probably don't want to use Prohibition in your analogy--since it was a mistake and was eventually fuckin' repealed. And while I don't imagine the statute will lead to widespread, black market, criminal activity and folks blinded from eating bootleg foie, raised in a bathtub--maybe we should look to the more recent past: Chicago, anyone?

(A friend who cooked at Spring during the Chicago ban tells me that they kept using foie gras in the dishes--as a sauce, not in its original state--and just didn't list it as an ingredient.)

In other news: Obama's crackdown on medical marijuana. Cali's just gettin' fucked six ways to Sunday, y'all.